Dante's Inferno - A Visceral Games / EA game

GrahamOfTheDead on Thu Feb 11, 2010 5:39 pm

Dante is a knight, a veteran of the Crusades, who is told by Death that he is to suffer eternal damnation for his sins committed while at war. Shocked by the fact that he has been deceived, he defeats death, and takes his scythe. He returns home to find his love, Beatrice, has been murdered, and witnesses her soul dragged to Hell by Lucifer....Dante gives chase....

....and so begins Dante's Inferno.

It's important to note that aside from the setting and the character names, this is not a faithful adaption of the first part of Dante Aligieri's epic The Divine Comedy. What we have here is a third-person hack and slash action-adventure.

On the surface, Dante's Inferno is not all that original, but what really is these days? Throughout the game's journey to store shelves there has been a lot of comment on the apparent similarities to Sony's God of War franchise and truthfully Kratos wouldn't feel out of place here. The gameplay follows a similar structure. Kill a few bad guys, solve a puzzle, run around a bit, solve another puzzle, rinse and repeat a couple of times, then throw in a boss fight.

That's not to say that this makes Dante's a bad game. Far from it in fact. It's a formula that has worked wonders for God of War, and Visceral Games have taken that formula and ran with it.

The touches Visceral have added only enhance the experience. To unlock new moves and character upgrades, you have to collect XP and level up your character. The twist here though is that you have two levels to build up. Your Unholy side, and your Holy side. Your two main weapons also relate to this. Upgrading your Unholy side will increase the strength and give you new moves for the aforementioned scythe, while levelling up your Holy side will do the same for your other weapon, which is a cross given to Dante by Beatrice before she dies.

Levelling up is done by either punishing or absolving enemies or the damned souls of famous historical figures you will stumble across such as Pontius Pilate or Atilla the Hun. Absolving a damned soul triggers a minigame where you have to absolve as many sins as possible within the time limit to give you bonus souls. The souls you collect by doing this, and from killing enemies or just collecting them from fountains around Hell, can then be used to purchase the moves and upgrades you've unlocked.

The two weapons are varied, the scythe works wonders in close-to-medium range, where as the cross provides you with an indespensible ranged attack which can take out enemies at a distance. Aside from this, you can also collect relics throughout the game which when equipped can have differing effects on Dante. There are also a few spells you can cast which will either defend you against the enemy, or provide you with a devastating attack.

I come now though to the area where this game simply excells and that is in the design.

The graphics are top notch. The game flows brilliantly, and aside from when you start the game, or when you die, there are almost no loading screens and only the occasional cut scene. The transistion from stage to stage is almost seamless.

The setting though, is what really makes this game, and the art design for each circle of Hell. Each circle has its own identity, and this is reflected in the themes and level design. The shimmering gold of 'Greed' being perhaps the most striking. The game is wonderfully grotesque at times as well, the giant tongues and the morbidly obese gluttons that inhabit 'Gluttony' and the overtly sexual arcitechture of 'Lust', but it's kept all in check and never really feels overdone, despite sometimes seeming a little gratuitous. The sound effects are also quite unsettling, what with the almost constant wailing and screaming. It all contributes to a bleak and disturbing atmosphere.

My only real issue with the game is how short it is. I've played through the game twice now, and despite going out of my way looking for collectibles and other things, each runthrough clocked in at around 6 hours. Simply run through the game just for the story and you could probably be done in around 4....maybe even less. But that's just the way things are these days and the fact that I can see myself playing through this a few more times seems to negate this problem at the end of the day

Before we conclude, if you're into achievement hunting (why else would you be here?) then you'll be pleased to know that you'll find a relatively straightforward 1000 points waiting for you here. It should take you almost two playthroughs to get almost everything before moving on to the Gates of Hell bonus mode. Think Horde mode from Gears of War 2.

Overall, while Dante's Inferno doesn't bring anything entirely new to the table, what it does bring is all done extremely well. What elevates this though is the setting, and the stunning art design that brings with it. A lot of the imagery here will stay with you long after you've finished the game. The 'to be continued...' at the end was also more than welcome. I'd gladly revisit this world again in the future. Hats off to Visceral Games. With this and Dead Space, they're becoming a developer to watch.

9/10

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to watch Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic.

Guest on Thu Feb 11, 2010 5:42 pm

Nice review mate Very Happy

Jameseire85 on Thu Feb 11, 2010 5:54 pm

Nice Review!!

**KENT HAMMER** on Thu Feb 11, 2010 6:21 pm

Great work mate, welcome to the review team Smile

Cyber_zombi on Thu Feb 11, 2010 9:42 pm

Nice review mate, let us know what the animated films like. (saw it advertised in X360 today)

Ba5sett on Fri Feb 12, 2010 10:56 am

Great review mate, quite liked the demo of this think I will check it out when the price drops a bit Smile

Everton on Fri Jun 11, 2010 10:44 am

Playing through this currently and its not too bad

Darksiders is far superior though

Trouble with the game is that it has a few really shoddy bits mainly involving swinging from ropes and jumping onto another line. Its just too fiddly to be enjoyable and those bits detract from the whole experience.

Its definately worth buying, but it could have been so much better if those small pointless sections had been omitted

It is quite a straightforward game though and its probably 12/14 hours to 1000 points so good for us whorererers

**Colne Crusader** on Sun May 08, 2011 11:02 am

Finally read this. A good review mate.

I really enjoyed the game, and keep meaning to have another run-through. It's definitely worth a bash!

Guest on Sun May 08, 2011 12:08 pm

I still have this sat in my - to be played pile - hope to do it soon Embarassed

stubbymite on Sun May 08, 2011 10:11 pm

niteowl1980 wrote:I still have this sat in my - to be played pile - hope to do it soon

im the same mate and its ment to be an easyish 1000g Embarassed

**Tricky34** on Sun May 08, 2011 11:49 pm

Yeah it is a pretty easy 1000, and quite a fun game. There is also some DlC based cheevs too, though i didn't bother with that!

wewon5times on Wed May 11, 2011 8:02 pm

Easy 1000??? I cant get the 666 combo for shit
Might go through it again with the help of a guide to get the rest of the points and just keep trying the 666 combo.

Stucowie on Wed May 11, 2011 9:14 pm

wewon5times wrote:Easy 1000??? I cant get the 666 combo for shit
Might go through it again with the help of a guide to get the rest of the points and just keep trying the 666 combo.

The 666 one is easiest done on one of the circle of hell levels, I think its the one where you have to do a certain number of air hits.... so just avoid air hits and smash away! It took me about 30-40 mins when I did it.

**Colne Crusader** on Wed May 11, 2011 10:51 pm

wewon5times wrote:Easy 1000??? I cant get the 666 combo for shit
Might go through it again with the help of a guide to get the rest of the points and just keep trying the 666 combo.

This cheev is a lot easier if you equip and upgrade the coin of plutus. This gives you more time before the hit counter resets, allowing you to rack up bigger combos. Make sure you play with it equiped so it upgrades.

Then try and upgrade your holy side powers so that your cross is fully upgraded. Then play the circle of hell air hits level as stu says and just spam the tits out of the cross button. Should be fairly easy then!! This strategy will make completing all circle of hell levels a walk in the park.

Dante's Inferno - A Visceral Games / EA game

Dante's Inferno - A Visceral Games / EA game

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Re: Dante's Inferno - A Visceral Games / EA game

Re: Dante's Inferno - A Visceral Games / EA game

Re: Dante's Inferno - A Visceral Games / EA game

Re: Dante's Inferno - A Visceral Games / EA game

Re: Dante's Inferno - A Visceral Games / EA game

Re: Dante's Inferno - A Visceral Games / EA game

Re: Dante's Inferno - A Visceral Games / EA game

Re: Dante's Inferno - A Visceral Games / EA game

Re: Dante's Inferno - A Visceral Games / EA game

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